Corporate changes, such as mergers and acquisitions, may occur for a variety of reasons. For example, a large institution may want to expand by taking over smaller rivals in order to grow even larger. In certain situations, a smaller company may lack the capital necessary to expand, so it might seek a larger partner who can offer the desired capital. Other corporate changes seek to enhance profits by integrating operations, while perhaps also making a larger geographic footprint in the marketplace. In certain circumstances, a merger between institutions may be desirable to expand the variety of products and services that can be offered by either individual institution on its own. Still other corporate changes are defensive, initiated by an institution in response to other changes in the marketplace that threaten the competitive position of the institution.
Regardless of the reason for the corporate change, customers of the entities involved in the change can be negatively impacted. There may be changes in policies, procedures, transactions, or fees required by the acquiring institution that are different from what customers have come to expect from the acquired institution. For example, customers who held checking or savings accounts at an acquired institution may be required to undertake new procedures for making deposits or withdrawals from those accounts. In addition, there may be product pricing differences in terms of interest rates, fee schedules for services, and product feature availability, among other potential differences. If the process of transitioning customers from the acquired institution to the acquiring institution is not performed effectively, dissatisfied customers may take their business elsewhere.
In view of the foregoing issues, enhanced systems, processes, tools, techniques and strategies are needed for executing corporate entity changes between or among institutions, particularly with respect to minimizing the negative effects of corporate changes on customers of the institutions.